David Bowie video pulled from YouTube, then returned with warning

1/3

Bowie performing on stage as the Thin White Duke London in May 1976. (Michael Putland / Getty Images)

2/3

Bowie poses for a portrait dressed as Ziggy Stardust in a hotel room in 1973 in New York City. (Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images)

3/3

Bowie on stage on the third and final day of the Nokia Isle of Wight Festival 2004 at Seaclose Park, on June 13, 2004, in Newport, U.K.

(Jo Hale / Getty Images)

By August Brown

May 9, 2013 12:14 PM PT

It’s nice to know even a 66-year-old David Bowie can still elicit some pearl-clutching.

The video for the art-rock titan’s new single “The Next Day” stars Gary Oldman and Marion Cotillard as a priest and a prostitute. It features a bit of PG-13 violence, sexual imagery and religious iconography, but nothing out of sorts for the Thin White Duke. The clip is promoting his much-praised comeback album of the same title.

However, that topical triumvirate was enough to get the clip temporarily yanked from YouTube for violating its content guidelines.

The clip was down for only a short while before returning with an adult content advisory note. But the move was enough to raise the hackles of Bowie fans.

A YouTube spokesman told the BBC that “with the massive volume of videos on our site, sometimes we make the wrong call. When it’s brought to our attention that a video has been removed mistakenly, we act quickly to reinstate it.”

The video didn’t just raise eyebrows at YouTube, however. The former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey, told the Telegraph, “Frankly, I don’t get offended by such juvenilia -- Christians should have the courage to rise above offensive language, although I hope Bowie will recognise that he may be upsetting some people.”

ALSO:

Review: Hilary Hahn’s ’27 Pieces’

‘The Next Day’ finds David Bowie at his best

As I Lay Dying members issue statement on singer’s arrest